Ngara, TZ – MVG VICOBA repays corn trading loan and switches to the rice business – Apr 2024

After a year, the MVG Vicoba group has successfully paid SODAT its 4.9 M TZS total corn loan after trading corn in Ngara main market. This has created an opportunity to sell rice for increasing the group income and savings for its members.

In the 2023 May corn harvests season in Ngara, the MVG Vicoba purchased seven tonnes of corn from farmers’ harvest when the price went down in order to sell when price rose in December when corn is scarce because it’s farmed seasonally once a year. Each Kilogram bought for 750 TZS was sold for 950 TZS to provide the MVG Vicoba a net income profit of 1,610,000 TZS.

The corn is grown by families who have farming land space for food security and excess sold later for an income to pay next farming running costs, and school supplies. The price fluctuation in the market is caused by new harvest which drops the demand due to corn availability at farmers’ homes. The families eat corn flour, which when cooked with water makes a stiff porridge “Ugali” in Swahili, which is typical common low cost affordable food which is eaten with green vegetable varieties, beans, sardines, other fish, and meat stew.

The corn business experience made MVG change to rice business due to its ready market and higher demand throughout the year. The plan is to launch a rice wholesale and retailer supply shop in Ngara town. This way the business income lifecycle is daily and good for sustaining Vicoba savings that can be invested in a brighter future by investment in land, a corn milling machine, and providing individual members home and businesses improvement loans so their families and children can look forward to better future lives.